JERUSALEM, Israel -- Kadima MK Shaul Mofaz was officially installed as the party's new chairman and as head of the opposition on Monday.

Mofaz defeated former party chairwoman Tzipi Livni in last week's primaries by a wide margin. He immediately called on Livni to stay active in the party.

Before last week's election, Mofaz announced that he would be the next prime minister.

On Monday, he told Kadima members, "God willing, we will form the next government."

"We are embarking on a new and common path," Mofaz said at the faction meeting. "Any action we take from now on will be for the sake of one mission: to replace [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's bad and cold government."

Meanwhile, Labor party chairwoman Shelly Yacimovich told her party she would be the candidate to defeat Netanyahu "because we have a true path that we will lead and stick to and use to defeat Netanyahu."

Zehava Gal-On, head of the ultra-left Meretz party, told her faction that her party is the only one that would not join a Netanyahu-led government under any circumstances."